Oil Temp
 

I just wanna ask this simple question, I was driving through Post today and I was in second with about 1500 RPM's and my oil temp gauge jumped to 250 degrees. Is this normal? I have seen a lot of forums say if I call the NissanofUSA number they will offer a Oil Cooler. Is it worth it? Or should I just pay the 800 dollars for the after market cooler? I never had this problem till I put the new exhaust on the car, It sounds good, Also tomorrow I will take my Z for the 5,000 mile tune up. Should I get upgraded Oil put in or let Nissan put the regular oil in? Thanks.

Were you driving aggressively? Normally when i drive mine agressively the oil temps start to climb. Hwhats the weather like over where you live? What kind of oil are you running at the moment?

Granted I live in NY...But if you're keeping the RPM's under 4000 your temp shouldn't be hitting 250 cruising at 1500... Whats the temp there? Have you checked to see if you're burning oil?

Check your oil level.

I am currently stationed in El Paso TX, It was around 77 degrees yesterday, I hate to see what it is like in mid summer with temps over 100+ degrees. I am currently using whatever Nissan offers with the 1 year warr. I am taking it in today for the 6000 mile tune up and I am going to ask about Ester Oil. I will pay the extra to get the better oil.

LOL On a military installation. The top speed on post is 35MPH.

If you aren't driving aggressively at all and seeing those temps you should bring your car to the dealer ASAP. Even in hot summer temps driving normally my car never goes over 220...

Mine would go to 250-260 when driving quite aggressively. Nissan says it's ok, so it's at a minimum true that this will not grenade your motor in short order.

I bought an oil cooler from Z1. No more issues.

Just chiming in here since I had experienced the same issues and wound up buying a street perf. 19 row oil cooler. The reason I went ahead and splurged on one is due to the fact that after I got my Z and would get on it just a little I would notice the temps climb dramatically from 190 to 220-230 fairly quickly.

I called up Nissan and they said it was a known issue and that I may want to look into getting a performance oil cooler for it. This kind of ticked me off being that I had just bought it and you would think they would have corrected this themselves since it can cause your engine to overheat and do a "shut off" on you..:( So 'Nuff said I have had no issues since installing it.




'09 F.I. CBE/HFC-Stillen Gen3,Setrab +ModBod

Your engine won't grenade because "limp mode" will cut power to ensure oil temps decrease.

I haven't heard anything about Nissan offering free oil coolers. You can get an aftermarket for way less than $800 also. I got a z1 25 row for much less.

Yeah, I got tired of hitting limp mode at the end of one lap runs on the track--that's what pushed me into the cooler. I never got to 290, but I probably passed 280 half a dozen times.

But honestly, for street driving I wouldn't have bothered.

Will this aftermarket oil cooler void the warr? Does Nissan service all 370z with Ester or do you have to pay extra? The only reason I ask cause the tech told me that he put ester in it last time, But today he mentioned if i went with Ester it would be 80 dollars, Which of course I paid.

limp mode a 35,000+ dollar car shouldnt go limp. When I purchased my new Z I sat inside and laughed cause the interior is crap, And the guy said you aint paying for the inside your paying for what is under the hood, With that being said you wouldnt think of high oil temp. Which I did get the sports package for free. 35,000 includes tax tags and title in the state of Texas.

I think the interior is quite nice and most people seem to agree compared to other performance cars ie. vette, evo, 350z etc. As for limp mode, yeah, it's crappy, but almost everyone who does some research on the car before buying it knows about it already at this point so you factor that in beforehand. As for the oil change, there's no way they used esther oil if they charged you a normal oil change price or if it was a free initial oil change.

Any of the oil coolers could potentially void your warranty, even the Nissan Motorsports one. Technically it is on the dealer to prove the part caused the problem, but as we all know, it never works that way. I'm not sure how it got up to 250 though, in all my driving around Fort BLiss I have not had it get over 220 except when I'm out at the drag strip. If you want to get an oil cooler though I would suggest one of the aftermarket coolers. IMO they are every bit as good if not better than the one from NIssan, and the price is usually a bit cheaper. I'm holding out until May or June to see how my oil temps are. Last summer in Killeen it rarely got over 230 and that was with 70+ straight days of 100+ degree heat. Oil decision is yours to make, I personally just get the cheap stuff and stay on top of maintenance. I've done just shy of 19k miles of driving in the first year (lots of cross country driving) and it doesn't have any oil consumption issues at all. Next oil change though I plan doing myself though.

If you're just driving it on the street and not especially aggressively, you should be okay unless you're in a hot climate and stuck in bad traffic a lot.

Which around here in El Paso could be quite often depending on where you live.

Wasn't referring to you specifically, just in general regarding this thread.

Skeet what Color is your Z? I work out here on Biggs, Also I live on the westside so the traffic at 5 o clock sucks horrible. I cant go cheap oil I refuse I just payed the extra 88 dollars today to get the good stuff. So lets hope it keeps the oil temp down.

249.99

Oil Cooler Kits - Oil Cooler Kit with Thermostat

lp

Gun Metallic, generally find me hanging around the airfield 90% of the time.

Plus the cost of building brackets.......

Ive seen the white one, Never seen yours.

that oil cooler looks cheap and def aint going cheap on the Z

http://www.the370z.com/members/must-...il-cooler2.jpg

ever since it was installed, oil temps never exceeded 220°. regardless of temperature / traffic / aggressive driving :tup:

You're welcome.

It's basically the same setup MODSHACK put together only they packaged it all up for you kit. Lots of threads on here about oil coolers. If you don't want "cheap" you could go with the Stillen one for around 450.00 which has a high quality SETRAB cooler but no thermostatic adapter which kinda sucks, but it does come with a ready to use mount unlike the DIY kit.

Ref:
http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...ttsa-pics.html

Ref:
370Z Z34 STILLEN STREET VERSION OIL COOLER KIT | eBay

/\/\
If you check out Stillen, also check out Z1 and read the reviews--both have a lot of favorable reviews. Both offer the Setrab cooler in several sizes offered along with all the mounting hardware.

If you aren't tracking and want to get one to keep temps down just to keep the engine temp under control, you could just get a basic 19 row cooler and be fine. I'd probably get the thermostatic sensor and call it a day. A 34 row kit would probably be overkill for you. When mine is uncovered, even with the thermostatic sensor, at 40F out my oil temp sits at ~160F when driving on the freeway. (Note that I'm at altitude.)

Isn't the nismo kit a 34 row Setrab cooler with brackets and lines?

But I wouldn't worry about an oil cooler if I weren't tracking the car though unless you plan to keep it 100k+ miles. If you sell it in 5 years like many of us, you won't see any return on your investment.

I've been watching this as I just got my Z last month. It's been cool here in TN thus far, so I'm waiting to see what my oil temps do this summer.

I've not seen temps go over 200 thus far in mine, but I don't drive like a pissed off teenager either.

I will be hitting the drag strip with it here soon just to see what it'll do.

If I do a cooler, I want one with the thermostatic adapter. Then I'd probably go with a 24 row. With the thermostatic in there it shouldn't open till the oil temp hits 180 and then close again if it falls below that to make sure I don't have any issues in the winter.

The main thing to be concerned with is really the temperature that oil actually starts to degrade or lose its lubrication and protection qualities. If you look up the specs on most oils the manufacturer will list them or you can call them for technical info on the oil you use.

Oil is actually a very good conductor of heat and will usually be a higher temp than your engines water coolant.

I called Mobile 1 tech line and they say normal engine oil starts to break down and lose its protection qualities and life as low as 140 F and synthetic oils will handle up to 220-250 F max. So if your engine oil is getting much hotter than your water temperature you probably want to install a bigger oil cooler to reduce the operating temperature of the engine.

One other simple cheap option would be to installer the lowest temperature thermostat possible or remove it completely, this would allow the engine to run a lot cooler, also turning on your heater will help to reduce engine temperture slightly.

Even with a thermostatic plate, you may need an oil cooler block off plate in cooler months or your oil might have trouble getting up to the 180 threshold for ideal operating temperature.

I'm in Killeen so I got hot temps just like El Paso. 100-105F in the summer times. Last summer I was crusing down I-35 bout 75-80mph and my oil temps were at like 240F. I was like man that sucks. BUT, since then with a few oil changes (nissan oem dino oil), my oil temp hasn't cracked over 230F. On a normal 75-80F day my oil temps don't go past 225F. For normal street driving I think we pay too much attention to the oil temp if the gauge wasn't there we wouldn't even notice anything. I thought oil temps of 180-220F are normal anyway? What I have noticed though it seems like the higher temps are more prevalent in the 6MT and not the 7AT. Not sure why.

Stock 2012 here. Normal freeway cruising in 75*F weather so far I am running 195-200*F. This is at 85mph.

Just a datapoint.

Doing on-ramp acceleration, romping on it in 3rd gear on the freeway, etc. just enjoying a few WOT blasts, I have yet to break 220*F.

This is about how my 2009 runs as well.

At the track last weekend it was 65° and I made 4 1/4 passes in a row (hot lapping) and the gauge never went over 220.

I've yet to see it crack 200 on the road riding around as of yet. We'll see how it does over the summer.

My 2011 hit 225 last Sunday with mixed city/highway driving and no WOT driving. It was 65 degrees out. This was after 45 minutes.

Stop-go traffic at 20-55mph for about 15 minutes will get my car to 215*F. Then I get on the freeway at 80 and it cools down to about 195-200*F.

75* Ambient.

You guys are making me wonder if mine may have an oil cooler hidden in it somewhere. I need to crawl under there and look.

I bought the car from Nissan lat month, but it was a 2009. Never been titled but Nissan corporate had used it for something. Corporate is local to me. I assume for execs to drive when in town but who knows. Had 2900 miles on it when I drove it off the lot.

I agree with you. A car that is $30 grand + should not go limp in regular driving.

I'm wondering if the .2 liters of displacement caused too much heat to be produced by the engine (compared to the VQ35DE/HR)? I've read that the Variable Valve Event and Lift (VVEL) intake system could be responsible for this...
If so, why didn't they take time to get it right the first time & install a simple oil cooler like the one on 2012 models (?)..

What are you comparing the interior of the 370z to?
Most people will look at the previous generation Z and say that the 370 has a very nice interior. The 350z was like a matchbox car interior; although, everything fit well like the seats, steering wheel, shifter, etc.

The problem with the oil cooler on the 2012 models is that it is still not enough for track use so you still end up paying for aftermarket oil cooler if you are going to track the car. Not sure what happened with OP's car since I drove my 09 to El Paso and back from Dallas during a summer with 100+ degree temperatures and the car barely got to 230 regular driving.

I think a majority of Z owners prob don't take their car to the track so the 1012 cooler should be just fine for them. It is definitely needs to be replaced if you do go though.